“The Warmaster” brutalized fellow former heavyweight champion
Frank
Mir in the clinch before finishing their
UFC 164 co-main event with a close-quarters knee strike on Aug.
31 in Milwaukee. Barnett, who had not competed inside the Octagon
in more than a decade, drew the curtain on Mir 1:56 into round
one.

Barnett’s arrival made his presence known in a division short on
title contenders. Some even view him as a threat to the reign of
current heavyweight champion Cain
Velasquez, who will defend his title in a rubber match against
Junior dos
Santos at UFC 166 on Oct. 19. Barnett has won 10 of his past 11
bouts, losing only to Daniel
Cormier, Velasquez’s
American Kickboxing Academy stablemate, in that span.